Record BIS Fines for Export Violations by Acquired Companies
 
January 15, 2003
 

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation has agreed to pay a $1,760,000 fine to settle charges that a company the corporation had acquired was making unauthorized exports of controlled biological toxins. The settlement was reached after an Administrative Law Judge decided that companies can be held liable for export control violations committed by firms they acquire. View the opinion online at http://www.bis.doc.gov/Enforcement/CaseSummaries/Sigma_Aldrich_ALJ_Decision_02.pdf. In this case, Sigma-Aldrich failed to uncover the prior, unlicensed exports and allowed them to continue for more than one year after acquisition. The fine imposed is one of the largest penalties ever paid to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for violations of U.S. export control regulations. Sigma-Aldrich could have avoided this situation by conducting a thorough scrutiny of the company’s export control practices prior to acquisition, and by instituting a sound export control regime in the acquired company.